Sewing machine for stitching over wire objects



March 13, 1962 L. ROSEMAN SEWING MACHINE FOR STITCHING OVER WIRE OBJECTS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 8, 1957 Z90 Ebsemm March 13, 1962 ROSEMAN 3,024,745

SEWING MACHINE FOR STITCHING OVER WIRE OBJECTS .7 AM 44 7 M March 13, 1962 L. ROSEMAN SEWING MACHINE FOR STITCHING OVER WIRE OBJECTS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 8, 195'! United States Patent 3,024,745 SEWING IVIACHINE FOR STITCHING OVER WIRE OBJECTS Leo Roscman, 16 Johnson Ave., Newark, NJ. Filed Aug. 8, 1957, Ser. No. 677,104 1 Claim. (Cl. 112-2) This invention relates in general to sewing machines for stitching over wire objects such as wire fastener eye loops carried by a fabric tape, particularly during the attachment of such fastener-bearing tape to garments and the like. More particularly, the invention contemplates sewing machines having stitching over attachments 0f the type disclosed in my Patents Nos. 1,942,903 and 1,892,- 164, dated January 9, 1934, and December 27, 1932, respectively.

The attachment disclosed in each of these patents includes a stop finger at a point ahead of the path of the descent of the needle of the stitch-forming mechanism to positively stop movement of the wire object or fastener prior to the descent of the needle and preparatory to the formation of stitches to traverse the wire of the object or fastener, thereby to prevent accidental contact of the needle with the wire and consequent breaking of the needle.

The attachment of Patent No. 1,942,903 has the stop finger normally spring biased in one direction to locate the stop finger in active position to engage a wire object, and in timed relation to the stitch-forming reciprocation of the needle, a cam lifts the stop finger momentarily out of the path of the wire object and then permits the stop finger to be spring actuated to its normal position.

In the attachment shown in Patent No. 1,892,164, the stop finger is positively actuated both into its active position and out of the path of the wire object by a box cam.

Both of these attachments leave something to be desired. For example, with the use of said attachments the normal speed of the sewing machine must be reduced from 25% to 40% to attain satisfactory operation of the stop finger. Also, the operation of the stop finger by the cams is noisy and causes objectionable vibrations. Furthermore, there has been difiiculty in attaining proper correlation of the operation of the stop finger with the work feeding means and the needle of the stitch-forming mechanism.

Another ditficulty with the patented attachments is encountered when the operator exerts tension on either the garment or the fastener tape as they are being fed to the needle, in an effort to make the end of the garment and the end of the fastener tape coincide, that is, in order to match the ends of the garment and the fastener tape, the difficulty being that such tension pulls the wire fasteners out of proper relation to the needle so that the needle becomes broken.

Principal objects of the present invention are to pro vide a stitching over means of the general character described which shall embody novel and improved features of construction whereby the objections to and difficulties with the known stitching over mechanisms shall be overcome, and to provide a stitching over mechanism which shall permit full speed operation of the stitch forming mechanism without danger of breaking the needle by contact thereof with the wire objects, and with a minimum of noise and vibrations of the parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a stitching over machine which shall permit the operator to exert the necessary tension on either the garment or fastener tape to match the ends of the garment and tape, without danger of disturbing the proper relation of the wire fasteners to the needle in such a way as to cause breakage of the needle.

The invention also contemplates the provision of a machine which will stitch over two closely related wires, such as the wires that comprise the shank of the T-shaped head fastener element shown in my Patent No. 2,759,- 193, dated August 21, 1956, and which shall include novel and improved adjustable means for correlating the operation of the stop finger, the needle and the work feeding mechanism, especially to compensate for variations in the size of the wire objects on the tape or the like and to vary the extent of movement of the stop finger.

Further objects of the invention are to provide in a stitching over mechanism, a novel and improved combination of a stop finger and operating means therefor whereby the movement of the stop finger both into and out of the path of movement of the wire objects shall be yieldingly controlled; to provide such a combination which shall include a part fixedly connected to the stop finger and abuttingly engageable by a motion-transmitting member engageable and movable in one direction by a cam, and spring means for constantly urging said part into contact with said motion-transmitting member; and to provide novel and improved means for varying the speed of movement of the stop finger by the cam and motion-transmitting member.

Other objects of the invention are to provide novel and improved means for simultaneously elevating the presser foot of the sewing machine and the stop finger to permit a garment or the like and a fastener tape or the like carrying wire objects to be placed under the pressure foot unobstructed by the stop finger and at the same time permit the fastener tape to be manually pulled freely forwardly or hackwardly to adjust it relatively to the garment; and to obtain other advantages and results that will be brought out by the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which- FIGURE 1 is a schematic rear elevation of a known type of sewing machine and a stitching over attachment, embodying the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged top plan view of the mechanism for stopping the wire objects;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse vertical section on the plane of the line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a similar fragmentary transverse vertical section on the plane of the line 44 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a further enlarged fragmentary vertical section approximately on the plane of the line 55 of FIGURE 2 showing the stop finger in one stopping relation to a wire fastener; and

FIGURE 6 is a similar view showing the wire fastener and stop finger in another relation to each other;

FIGURE 7 is a top plan view of a sewing machine and a stitching-over mechanism embodying a modification of the invention, with portions of the machine broken away;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view on the plane of the line 88 of FIGURE 7; and

FIGURE 9 is a similar sectional view on the plane of the line 99 of FIGURE 7.

The invention, for the purpose of illustrating the principles thereof, has been shown in connection with a known type of sewing machine which includes the usual bedplate A and gooseneck or frame B in which is journaled the usual drive shaft C for actuating the mechanism that reciprocates the needle D. Journaled on the underside of the bedplate A is another drive shaft E which is connected in known manner to the feed dog F which projects through a slot in a throat plate G so as to grip the work between itself and the usual spring biased presser foot H whereby the work is fed in the direction of the arrows in FIGURES 2 and 4 by the intermittent movement of the feed dog according to the length of stitch to be produced. The needle D cooperates with shuttle mechanism (not shown) beneath the throat plate for forming a line of stitches, and I have shown a machine having the oscillating or walking type of sewing needles which penetrate the work, swing forward with the work feeding movement of the feed dog, then rise and swing back preparatory to again penetrating the Work thereby to complete a stitch. However, other stitch-forming mechanism including different forms of work feeding means and non-oscillating vertically reciprocating needles and different needle operating means may be employed in carrying out my invention.

While the invention may be utilized in stitching over metal or impenetrable wire objects on various types of material, I have shown the machine adapted for stitching a fastener tape J carrying fastener eye loops I, to one edge of a garment K the opposite edge of which has complemental fastener hooks, one needle D forming a line of stitches L certain of which are stitched over or traverse the wire loops and the other needle forming a line of stitches M. Generally in such operations, the tape is fed in continuous lengths and during the stitching operation it is frequently necessary for the operator to pull upon either the garment or the tape to stretch one or the other so that the fastener eye loops will match the complemental fastener hooks on the opposite edge of the garment at the termination of the stitching operation, after which the tape is cut. It is of course desirable that this operation be made possible with a minimum of danger of breaking a needle by contact thereof with the wire of an eye loop, and also without reduction in the speed of operation in the stitch-forming mechanism.

It is also desirable that the machine operate with a minimum of noise and vibration, and be subject to easy and quick correlation of the stop finger and the feed of the material bearing the wire objects and easy adjustment of the speed of operation of the stop finger. The present invention provides a stitching over mechanism for accomplishing these desirable results.

The machine of the invention comprises a bearing bracket 1 which is secured to the rear or far side of the bedplate A and to the right of the stitch-forming mechanism. The bearing bracket has bearing members 2 and 3 spaced longitudinally thereof and in which is journaled a rock-shaft 4 that extends at right angles to the direction of movement of the work as it is fed through the stitchfor-ming mechanism.

Extending through a transverse ovening in the shaft 4 adjacent one end thereof and at right angles to the axis of the shaft, is a stop arm 5 at the free end pontion of which are a pair of stop fingers 6 and 7 that are spaced apart longitudinally of the stop arm and consequently of the line of movement of the work and the wire objects I as they are fed through the stitch-forming mechanism. The stop arm 5 is adjustable relative to the rock-shaft to properly locate its stop fingers relative to the sewing needle D, and for this purpose the stop arm has a cutaway or flattened portion 8 which is engaged by a screw 9 threaded coaxially in the end of the rock-shaft. By loosening the screw 9 the stop arm may be moved longitudinally of itself and transversely of the rock-shaft to correlate the position of the stop fingers with the position of the path of reciprocation of the needle. In order to adjust the stop arm laterally into the desired relation to the needle, the bearing member 3 is bifurcated to embrace a collar 10 which is fixed to the rock-shaft 4 by set screw 11. By loosening the screw 11, the rock-shaft may be moved longitudinally of itself to properly adjust the stop finger, after which the screw may again be tightened to hold the shaft in adjusted position.

The stop arm is normally yieldably biased to move the stop fingers toward the bedplate of the machine and into contact with work fed upon the bedplate through the stitch-forming mechanism. As shown, a helical torque spring 12 surrounds the rock-shaft 4 with one end 13 fixedly connected to the bearing member 2 and the other end 14 anchored to the collar 15 fixedly secured on the rock-shaft. The spring 12 thus constantly exerts a force on the shaft 4 which swings the finger-bearing end of the stop arm downwardly to dispose the fingers 6 and 7 in contact with work on the bedplate beneath the needle.

Means is provided for rotating the shaft 4 in the opposite direction to swing the finger-bearing end of the stop arm upwardly in timed relation to the reciprocation of the needles D and for controlling movement of the stop arm in the opposite direction under the influence of the spring 12. As shown, this means includes a cam or eccentric 15 mounted on and movable with the drive shaft E and with which cooperates a motion transmitting member 16 which is shown as comprising an eccentric strap 17 encircling the eccentric or cam 15 and having a push rod 18 projecting radially therefrom and through a slot 19 in the bedplate and a guide opening 20 in an adjustable bearing plate 21 that is longitudinally slidably mounted between guides 22 on the bedplate and is held in adjusted position by screws 23 passing through slots 24 in the bearing plate and screwed into the bedplate.

An actuating arm 25 is mounted on the rock-shaft 4 to rotate therewith and has adjustably mounted therein an abutment member 26 into and out of engagement with which the end of the push rod 18 is moved upon rotation of the cam 15. As shown, the abutment comprises a screw 27 threaded in the arm 25 and a locknut 28 to lock the screw in adjusted position. The parts are so related that when the stop fingers 6 and 7 are in contact with the bedplate or with work on the bedplate, there is a clearance between the end of the push rod and the abutment 26 as shown in FIGURE 3. This clearance is maintained and adjusted by suitable means such as a stop screw 29 threaded in the arm with one end engageable with a stop block 30 secured in the bearing plate. Further adjust ment is provided by rotatably mounting the arm 25 on the rock shaft 4 and Providing a set screw 31 for locking the arm in the desired angular relation to the rock shaft.

During operation of the machine, the motion-transmitting member 16 is actuated by the cam 15 so as to reciprocate the push rod 18 in timed relation to the reciprocation of the needles and the feeding movement of the wire eye loops I across the path of descent of one of the needles. Upon movement of the push rod in one direction, that is upwardly as shown on the drawings, the end of the push rod separably abuttingly engages the abutment 26 and moves the arm 25 and consequently the stop arm 5 upwardly in the same direction so as to move the stop fingers 6 and 7 out of the path of feeding movement of the wire objects I, and the spring 12 constantly urges the arm 25 toward the push rod 18 so that said arm 25 and the stop arm are yieldingly caused to move within the motion-transmitting member in the opposite direction so as to dispose the stop fingers in the path of movement in the wire objects as shown in FIGURES 4, 5 and 6. Said movement of the actuating arm 25 and of the stop arm is arrested by engagement of the stop screw 29 with the abutment block 30 as shown in FIGURE 3 whereby the extent of movement of the stop fingers toward the bedplate A may be easily regulated or adjusted. It will be observed that the movement of the stop arm is constantly under control of the cam 15 and motiontransmitting member and the motion-transmitting member constantly engages the cam so that the movement of the parts is relatively noiseless and devoid of substantial vibration.

Should it be desired to change the position lengthwise of the arm of the point of contact of the push rod 18 with the arm 25 to vary the leverage of the arm and thereby change the speed of movement of the stop arm, the bearing plate 21 may he slid along the bedplate in its guide 22 and then be clamped in the adjusted position by the screws 23. Moreover, the extent of movement of the stop arm with the motion-transmitting member may be regulated by adjustment of the screw 27 to change the normal distance between the abutment 26 and the end of the push rod 18.

The operation of the stop fingers relative to the wire eye loops I as the latter are fed across the path of descent of one of the needles, is substantially the same as set forth in detail in my said Patent No. 1,942,903, except that the present stop arm has two fingers 6 and 7 instead of one finger as shown in the patent and the rear sides of the fingers are beveled as indicated at 32 and 33, respectively, so that in case the wire has slightly passed the proper point with respect to the needle path before the finger has moved into active position in the path of movement of the wire, the rear side of the finger will shove the wire out of the path of descent of the needle. Ordinarily, the end of the push rod 18 will contact with the abutment 26 at about the time the needle enters the work and will become disengaged from the abutment when the needle is at about the end of its work-penetrating movement. The stop finger is moved into the path of movement of each side I of the eye loop to stop the eye loop at about one-half a stitch ahead of the path of descent of the needle, as shown in FIGURE 5, and the stop finger is moved out of said path of movement of each side of the eye loop to release the eye loop for the other half of the stitch; and the stop fingers 6 and 7 are of such size and so spaced apart that both of them may at the same time enter an eye loop between opposite sides thereof at the same time as shown in FIGURE 6.

It will be understood that the eye loops I are stitched on the tape J and that the tape and the garment K are slightly stretchable, and, as above pointed out, an important feature of the invention is that the tape I can be placed under tension by the operator to adjust the tape to the garment, when desired, and without danger of the needle striking a wire with the machine being operated at the full normal speed.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that the yieldingly controlled movement of the stop arm in both directions and a wide latitude of adjustments permit proper correlation of the movement of the stop fingers, the workpenetrating movements of the needle and the feeding movement of the wire objects, and thereby ensure quiet, smooth operation, accurate stopping of the wire objects, the possibilities of using the machine with wires of different sizes and with stitches of different lengths, adaptability of the machine to pulling of the fastener tape to adjust the tape to a garment, and operation of the machine at the normal high speeds.

It is possible to omit the motion-transmitting member 16 by journaling a secondary or countershaft in close relation to the rock-shaft 4 and mounting an eccentric on that shaft to engage the abutment member 26 on the actuating arm 25.

Such a construction is shown in FIGURES 7 and 8, where the reference character E designates a countershaft which may be journaled in bearings 40 that may be integral with the bracket 1 corresponding to the bracket 1. The secondary shaft E is connected to a suitable drive shaft for example, by a chain 37 and sprockets 38 to the drive shaft C of the sewing machine, to be rotated in timed relation to the reciprocation of the needle, for example, at a one to one ratio, and to the feeding movement of the wire objects; and an eccentric or an equivalent is fixedly mounted on the shaft E and directly abuttingly engages an abutment 26 on one end 25 of a double actuating arm 25 which is rigidly mounted between its ends on the shaft 4 and has adjacent its other end 25 a stop screw 29 corresponding to screw 29. As shown, the end portions of the double arm 25 project in opposite directions from the rock shaft 4 from which the stop arm 5 projects in the same direction as the end portion 25 The operation of this form of the invention is substantially the same as that hereinbefore described except that the motion transmitting member 16 is omitted along with the adjustment plate 21, the eccentric 15 actuating the double arm 25 to raise the stop arm, and the stop screw 29 limiting downward movement of the stop arm under the influence of the spring 12. Obviously, the point of contact between the eccentric 1S and the abutment 26 could be adjusted by adjustably mounting the secondary shaft E in its bearings.

The invention also contemplates means for easily and quickly simultaneously raising the presser foot H and the stop arm 5 into an out-of-the-way position to permit the work to be inserted into the stitch-forming mechanism between the presser foot and the feed dog F. The sewing machine includes the usual presser foot elevating mechanism that comprises a lever N pivoted on the gooseneck and having one end abuttingly hooked under an arm P that projects from the presser foot bar Q in the usual manner. The other end of the lever N has a loose pivotal connection R with one end of a motion-translating lever S that is pivotally mounted at T on the gooseneck and has one end connected to a push rod U slidably guided in the bedplate A with one end abuttingly engaging the head Y on one end of a knee operated lever W that is pivotally mounted at X on the machine frame and has a knee pad Y at its other end. The usual spring Z normally urges the presser foot downwardly, and the operator, by pressing the knee against the pad Y may elevate the presser foot. The machine is also provided with the usual manually operated lever N' for raising and holding the presser foot in elevated position.

For raising the stop arm simultaneously with the presser foot, a crank arm 34 is rigidly connected to the rockshaft 4 and is pivotally connected at 35 to one end of a flexible connector or chain 36 the other end of which is connected to the end of the lever N that underlies the arm P of the presser foot bar. When the lever N is actuated by pressure against the knee pad Y, a pull is exerted on the chain 36 so as to swing the crank arm 34 and the stop arm 5 upwardly and thereby move the stop fingers out of the path of feeding movement of the wire objects to permit work to freely slide beneath them.

Instead of the eccentric 1S and the eccentric strap 16, a push rod can be loosely slidably mounted in the opening 20 of the bearing plate 21 and have a follower roller at its lower end to be periodically engaged by a differently shaped cam, the downward movement of the push rod being limited so that the follower roller will be engaged periodically by the cam in timed relation to the reciprocation of the needle and of the feeding movement of the wire objects so as to swing the stop arm upwardly, but the push rod will remain stationary during the period that the stop finger is disposed in the path of movement of the wire objects. With this construction the push rod would be dormant during a portion of the rotation of the cam whereas with the construction shown on the drawings, the push rod is constantly in motion.

It will also be observed that the length of the portion of the actuating arm between the axis of the rock-shaft 4 and the abutment 26, and between the axis of the rockshaft 4 and the abutment 26 is short as compared with the length of the portion of the stop arm 5 between the rock-shaft and the stop-fingers and that the major portion of the influence of the cams or eccentrics on the actuating arms occurs during movement of the high points X of the lobes of the cams or eccentrics above the horizontal axial plane of the drive shaft E and below the horizontal axial plane of the drive shaft E, respectively. Therefore, the shafts E and E having a timed relation to the formation of the stitches and to the feeding of the Work, the stop fingers are moved into and out of the path of movement of the wire objects in accurate correlation with the work penetrating movements of the needle and the feeding movement of the wire objects. It must be seen that the stop arms rotate about the axes of the rock-shafts 4 and that motion is transmitted from the cams to the stop arms at points spaced from said axes distances substantially less than the distances of the stop fingers from said axes; and the motion is transmitted directly from the peripheries of the cams to the stop arms along imaginary straight lines that pass through the axes of rotation of the cams and points spaced distances from the said axes of rotation of the stop arms les than the distances of said fingers from said axes of rotation of the stop arms. Therefore, the fingers move exceptionally rapidly into and out of the path of movement of the wire objects, which permits exceptionally rapid feeding of the wire objects. The invention insures that the stop arm shall be oscillated about its axes of rotation a distance just sufficient to permit the stop fingers to clear the wire objects, and the cam need have only a small throw or a small lobe to move the stop fingers the adequate distance. Thus, speedy, quiet, smooth operation of the machine and accurate stopping of the wire objects are insured.

Other modifications and changes in the construction of the machine will occur to those skilled in the art as within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

A sewing machine for stitching over wire objects on penetrable work comprising in combination a bed plate having thereon stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocating needle, work-feeding means, a stop mechanism comprising a stop arm that has a finger and is oscillatable on said bed plate about an axis that is spaced from said finger to move said finger into and out of the path of feeding movement of said wire objects at a point ahead of the path of descent of the needle, an eccentric rotatable in timed relation to the reciprocation of said needle and to the feeding movement of said Wire objects and whose eccentric cam surface is circular and eccentric to its axis of rotation, and a driving connection between said eccentric cam surface and said stop arm including an actuating arm oscillatable about said axis and to which said stop arm is rigidly connected, means to transmit motion from said eccentric to said actuating arm at a point spaced from said axis a distance substantially less than the distance of said finger from said axis including a rock-shaft oscillatable on said axis on which said stop arm and said actuating arm are rigidly mounted, and a spring for maintaining continuously yielding contact of said means to transmit motion with said eccentric surface, said means to transmit motion transmitting said motion from said eccentric cam surface to said actuating arm along an imaginary straight line that passes through the axis of rotation of the eccentric and a point spaced a distance from said axis of said rock-shaft less than the distance of said finger from said axis of said rock-shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,732,394 Bebel Oct. 22, 1929 1,907,674 Roseman May 9, 1933 1,942,903 Roseman Jan. 9, 1934 2,131,250 De Voe Sept. 27, 1938 2,583,864 Malmsten Jan. 29, 1952 

